Joseph keech



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC,

JOSEPH KEEOH, OF WATERLOO, NEW YORK.

'WASHBOARIL Specification of Letters Iatent No.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, JOSEPH KEECH, of Waterloo, in the county of Seneca and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Washboards; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a face view of the wash board. Fig. 2 is a section on m of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section on y y of Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference in the several figures denote the same part of the board.

My invention as an improvement in wash boards is designed to remedy a positive defect now existing in all such articles, by which a large proportion of the surface of the board is rendered non-eective during the washing operation. This defect arises from the fiat form of surface made up of the edges of the corrugations, which renders the portion of the board under the hand all that is eective during a rub in the direction of the length of the board.

To effect the object designed I give my board, in a transverse direction, a curved form, consisting of a protruding middle portion, between two depressions or valleys leading from the middle projection to the edge of the board. The action of this form being to draw the article tightly over`the convex middle portion, as the hands press upon the clothes in the valleys, thus communicating the pressure bestowed on the article by the hands, to that portion resting upon the protruding middle; whereby the middle part of the board is as eectually brought into action as though the hands were directly applied.

The details of construction and operation will be readily understood from the following description and reference to the annexed drawing.

The corrugated portion of the board is supported upon top piece a, bottom piece b, sides c and middle bearing piece d as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The operating face f is 13,682, dated October 16, 1855.

corrugated in the ordinary manner as shown in Fig. 2 and therein does not differ from common wash boards.

The point on which the excellence of this board depends consists in the curve in a transverse direction possessed by the face j, made up of a protruding or swell middle m having a valley or depression n o n each side reaching to the grooves g in the sides c of the board. The face f may be made of Zinc as usual or may be of wood or other suitable substance.

In the operation of this board it is employed as others of like character: the hands of the operator holding the article and rubbing it across the corrugations of the face f. In bending over the board the hands will naturally rest in the valleys n and draw the article over the protruding middle m, pressing it upon the said middle portion and rendering the corrugations on that part effectual in removing the dirt as the article is moved up and down the board. In effecting this advantageous operation no more power has to be expended, than would be required on an ordinary board to render effectual the portions immediately under the hands of the operator.

The advantage claimed for this board is an increased operating effect without additional power or time, all of which is due to ihe peculiar improved form of the operating ace.

Disclaiming expressly the curving of the corrugations as patented by Lester Butler in 1852, I claim as new and of my own invention- Constructing the operating face of wash boards of a laterally depressed, and centrally elevated, corrugated surface, substantially as specied, for increasing the effective operation of the board, in the manner set forth.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name before two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH KEECH.

Witnesses:

`R101-ram) T. GAGE,

WM. KNOX. 

